In San Antonio, many families enjoy the backyard bounty of the yellow-orange, ping-pong ball-size fruit with a mild apricot flavor, usually eating the fruit raw, pulled right of the tree. With some work to remove a loquat’s skin and seeds, the fruit can be cooked, turned into jam or other uses.
The past couple of years have been hard on San Antonio’s loquats. The small trees are a ubiquitous landscape plant in home gardens and commercial properties, popular for their glossy evergreen, leaves, edible fruit and their heat and drought tolerance.
First, the arctic storm of February 2021 destroyed the crop that was just beginning to set. It also killed many of the plants themselves as temperatures dropped below freezing for hours on end, and it was feared that the trees that suffered damage would eventually succumb, too.
But these hardy little trees are now starting to bear fruit all around the city, a treat for birds and San Antonians who last had a taste in 2020.
Loquats, sometimes called Chinese plums, bloom in the fall, so freezing temperatures can kill these blooms and the resulting fruit, according to Bob Webster, co-owner of Shades of Green on Sunset Road.
“Here in San Antonio, our winters are cold enough, often enough, that loquats produce only an average of three out of every five years,” Webster said.
And while this past winter wasn’t as harsh, there were a couple of hard freezes, during which temperatures dipped into the mid-20s. More loquats than expected have survived this climatic double whammy and, depending on where they’re located, are producing fruit, although not as much perhaps, as in years past.
On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio is loco for loquats, and here's how to cook with them
“A lot depends on the plant’s microclimate,” said Andrew Labay, director of horticulture at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, referring to the way growing conditions in one spot can differ greatly from another nearby.
According to Labay, for example, last year’s storm killed several of the Botanical Garden’s loquats while others, protected by the nearby administration building, showed little signs of damage. The ongoing drought also appears to have knocked local plants off their schedule.
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The past couple of years have been hard on San Antonio’s loquats. The small trees are a ubiquitous landscape plant in home gardens and commercial properties, popular for their glossy evergreen, leaves, edible fruit and their heat and drought tolerance. But these hardy little trees are now starting to bear fruit all around the city, a treat for birds and San Antonians who last had a taste in 2020.
The past couple of years have been hard on San Antonio’s loquats. The small trees are a ubiquitous landscape plant in home gardens and commercial properties, popular for their glossy evergreen, leaves, edible fruit and their heat and drought tolerance. But these hardy little trees are now starting to bear fruit all around the city, a treat for birds and San Antonians who last had a taste in 2020.
The past couple of years have been hard on San Antonio’s loquats. The small trees are a ubiquitous landscape plant in home gardens and commercial properties, popular for their glossy evergreen, leaves, edible fruit and their heat and drought tolerance. But these hardy little trees are now starting to bear fruit all around the city, a treat for birds and San Antonians who last had a taste in 2020.
The past couple of years have been hard on San Antonio’s loquats. The small trees are a ubiquitous landscape plant in home gardens and commercial properties, popular for their glossy evergreen, leaves, edible fruit and their heat and drought tolerance. But these hardy little trees are now starting to bear fruit all around the city, a treat for birds and San Antonians who last had a taste in 2020.
“I saw them blooming about a month later than normal,” said David Rodriguez, a horticulturist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in College Station. “The same thing happened with red buds, Texas mountain laurel and Bradford pears. But when they did finally bloom, it was unbelievable.”
Loquats are native to China and long have been cultivated in Japan. In San Antonio, many families enjoy the backyard bounty of the yellow-orange, ping-pong ball-size fruit with a mild apricot flavor, usually eating the fruit raw, pulled right of the tree.
With some work to remove a loquat’s skin and seeds, the fruit can be cooked, turned into jam or other uses.
A 2019 Express-News article included recipes for everything from loquat snapper tartare to chicken schnitzel with loquats to a loquat bellini.
On ExpressNews.com: Redbuds, Texas mountain laurels and cemetery iris are blooming now in San Antonio gardens
The evergreen trees remains popular with homeowners who wouldn’t know a loquat from a Lamborghini because they thrive just about enywhere. The plants can handle everything from partial shade to full sun, and they grow to 10 to 15 feet in only a few years, their long, glossy leaves creating a thick, impenetrable hedge to screen a neighbor’s nasty yard or that empty lot next door.
If there’s one drawback, it’s that while loquats are drought tolerant, they won’t be very productive unless they get regular water, even after they’re well established. So you want them as fruit trees, they will need more water than other xeriscape plants.
While loquat plants can be grown from seed, they’re readily available at local nurseries where a 5-gallon plant should cost about $35. But inventories are low, according to Webster, so don’t hesitate if you want to make loquat jelly next spring.
rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
Richard A. Marini is a features reporter for the San Antonio Express-News where he's previously been an editor and columnist. The Association of Food Journalists once awarded him Best Food Columnist. He has freelanced for American Archaeology, Cooking Light and many other publications. Reader's Digest once sent him to Alaska for a week. He came back.